Markets contine to trade in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade in green in afternoon session on the back of buying witnessed in consumer durable, bankex and capital goods amid mixed global trend. Persistent FPIs' capital inflow on the back of encouraging Q1 earnings and fall in global crude prices provided support to markets’ sentiments and most of the sectoral indices were trading in green. Consumer durable and bankex were the top gaining indices on the bourses. Buying was broad based with both small cap and mid cap indices trading up by over 0.80%. However, market gains remained capped as selling witnessed in metal and power stocks put pressure on the major indices. Banking shares mainly public sector undertakings (PSU) were in buyer's radar and trading were higher by up to 5% on reports that the Finance ministry will take tough measures on rising scams in state-owned banks. Shares of Sterlite Technologies were locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 60.35 on expectations that the integrated optical fibre company would be one of the key beneficiaries of the Digital India plan. Furthermore, Kotak Mahindra Bank moved higher by nearly 2% at Rs 1,016 to its lifetime high level after the private sector bank said its promoter sold 1.6 million shares of the bank to meet the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines to meet promoter shareholding norms.

On global front, Nikkei up by 0.79% and Hang Seng down 0.72% as a Chinese manufacturing gauge fell more than estimated in August. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,900 and 26,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,619 stocks traded, 1,653 stocks advanced, while 869 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26405.50, up by 91.21 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 26302.26 and 26464.80. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.85%, while Small cap index up by 1.06%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 3.27%, Bankex up by 1.34%, Capital Goods up by 0.99%, FMCG up by 0.70% and PSU up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Metal down by 0.69% and Power down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.00%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.00%, Axis Bank up by 1.71%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.21% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.42%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.25%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.09%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86% and NTPC down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, concerned over the delay in the completion of several defence projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to speed up and complete its programmes on time.

Several DRDO projects in the country such as Nag missile, Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile project, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Airborne Early Warning and Control System projects have been delayed by many years and seen several cost overruns.

The Prime Minister has said that the technology in defence sector is changing fast and DRDO should take initiatives to complete projects before time which would help in easing the lives of the armed forces personnel.  By adding further, Narendra Modi has said that the DRDO should develop a mechanism where it should take ideas for developing products from the armed forces personnel as they are the ultimate users of these systems.

Emphasizing the need to give more opportunities to youth, the Prime Minister urged the DRDO to make provisions that in 5 out of its 52 labs, people with only less than 35 years of age are employed and the power of ultimate decision-making is also vested in them.

Meanwhile, in order to expand the domestic industrial base in defence sector, the cabinet hiked FDI ceiling to 49 percent ensuring control in Indian hands, for boosting country’s defence sector which imports up to 70 percent of its military hardware.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7907.60, up by 32.30 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 7868.15 and 7919.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were PNB up by 2.76%, Bank Of Baroda up by 2.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.17%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.05% and SBI up by 2.03%. On the flip side, United Spirits down by 1.61%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.13%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.12%, Tata Steel down by 1.09% and HDFC down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian equity indices were mixed; Straits Times up by 2.61 points or 0.08% to 3,326.26 and Nikkei up by 121.5 points or 0.79% to 15,575.95. While, Hang Seng down 181.24 points or 0.72% to 24,978.52, Taiwan Weighted down 34.67 points or 0.37% to 9,253.38, Jakarta Composite down 33.69 points or 0.65% to 5,156.47 KOSPI Index down 28.57 points or 1.38% to 2,044.21 and Shanghai Composite down 19.67 points or 0.88% to 2,220.55